Review: Matthew Sweet's 'Girlfriend' Vinyl Reissue on Intervention Records

The threshold between the last gasps of hair metal and the grunge revolution, 1991 saw a record not so easy to categorize as Mane Attraction or Nevermind. While Matthew Sweet was very much a rock and roll artist, his music existed states away from metal or grunge. 

Review: 'Charlie's Good Tonight: The Authorized Biography of Charlie Watts'

The Rolling Stones' reputation for being "bad boys" or whatever is not unearned considering all the abuse of women, drugs, and each other for which Mick, Keith, Brian, and Bill were known to indulge in to varying degrees (as far as I know, Keith was always pretty gentlemanly when it came to women and Bill never messed with drugs or his bandmates. Underage girls, however...). 

Review: 'Halloween Nuggets: Haunted Underground Classics'

If there were two things parents hated in the fifties it was rock and roll and scary stuff. A kid was liable to find his new copy of "Tutti Frutti" plopped in the trash next to a cherished issue of The Vault of Horror if he didn't keep a close eye on his stash! So the two genres have always been inseparably linked in many ways. In fact, you're reading one of those links right now, Hep-Cat!

Review: 'The Best of Roxy Music' Vinyl

To cap off Roxy Music's half-speed remaster campaign that began early this year, The Best of Roxy Music is now making its vinyl debut. The 2001 compilation pulls the slightly quirky trick of unfolding in reverse chronological order so that the extremely quirky Roxy Music gets rawer, weirder, and more vivacious as the collection slinks from the tuxedo-tidy title track of Roxy's final album to the electrifying kitchen-sink insanity of "Re-Make/Re-Model" from their eponymous debut. Avalon is actually a beautiful record, but it took Bryan Ferry and his group a little while to really figure out how to plug into MOR white-wine pop with sufficient imagination, so The Best of Roxy Music drifts off a bit from the glossy Lennon cover "Jealous Guy" to the post-hiatus pop hit "Dance Away". However, once "Both Ends Burning" kicks in at the very end of the first disc of this double-LP set, Roxy Music is at full power. You'd be hard pressed to find a more thrilling collection of seventies rock music than the second disc, which just throws punch after punch and lands square between the eyes each time.

Review: Lynne Goldsmith's 'Music in the '80s'

If you paid any attention to rock music during the eighties, you've seen a bunch of Lynn Goldsmith's pictures. She shot all of the decade's biggest stars from the coolest (Prince, The B-52s, The Ramones, Siouxsie) to the squarest (Barry Manilow). The variety of her photos is as eclectic as the people she photographed. She took glossy posed pics and candid back-stage ones that could be Polaroids. She took black and whites and colors and electrifying live shots and casual al fresco ones. My personal faves are the weird after-party pics featuring unlikely gatherings of stars. You want to see John Mellencamp beaming alongside Jayne County and David Johansen? You want to see Nile Rogers, Chrissie Hynde, Dexter Gordon, and Paul Shaffer sharing a table? You want to see Darlene Love in a clutch with Joan Jett and Elton John, who's wearing a huge, fake mohawk? Then Music in the '80s is the book for you. 

Review: 'Garth Marenghi's TerrorTome'

For probably half a century now, Garth Marenghi has been the name in horror for people who like extremely large books. Whether it be Afterbirth (in which a mutated placenta attacks Bristol), Black Fang (in which a rat drives a bus), Slicer (self explanatory), Slicer II (also self explanatory), Slicer III (ditto), Slicer IV (I'll stop qualifying now), or Slicer V through IV, you can count on a Garth Marenghi book to be of epic proportions, plus mucho disturbing.

Review: 'Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences'

Stephen King is that very rare author who is just as famous as his books, and the format of Bev Vincent's new book Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences is the kind usually reserved for rock bands or really popular movies. It's a full-color, illustrated hardcover that takes a close but wholly non-academic look at his output. Each one of King's books gets between a paragraph and several pages of attention as Vincent provides a good deal of background information, a bit of a synopsis, and a few words about the reception and legacy that greeted each publication. 

Review: CD Issue of R.E.M.'s 'Chronic Town'

R.E.M. did a lot of things really well, but probably none of their releases captured what they did best better than their first EP. Following their first single by a year, and preceding their first album by nine months, Chronic Town introduced R.E.M. as masters of mega-exciting jangle-pop. Although there are none of the mysterious ballads like "Perfect Circle" or novelties like "We Walk" that would make Murmur a more eclectic platter, R.E.M.'s celebrated debut LP was not as consistently thrilling as Chronic Town. This is the sound of a young band with a serious fire in their collective belly, and tracks like "Wolves, Lower" and "Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)" are as exciting as they'd ever get ("Gardening at Night" is pretty fierce too, though I do prefer the less mumbly alternative mix that would later appear on the Eponymous compilation). 

Review: 'The Ultimate Book of Movie Monsters'

One of the great draws of scary movies--which often aren't really that scary at all--is the chance to see some rad monster designs. That's the main draw of Christopher Carton's new book, The Ultimate Book of Movie Monsters, too. 

Review: 'Outro Records Rock 'n Roll Halloween Party!'

While getting up the Halloween decorations (which I seem to do a little earlier every year... as my wife likes to point out), it is key to set the right mood. I've got my Zacherle and Vic Mizzy and Vince Gauraldi LPs, and Black Sabbath and The Misfits for when I get fed up and ready to rock, but I'm guessing none of those are gonna hit the spot this year like Outro Records' new comp Outro Records Rock 'n Roll Halloween Party!